Possible changes coming to Ontario’s Greenbelt

Big changes could be coming to Ontario’s Greenbelt in the next few years.A group of Ontario mayors and councillors wants to expand the Greenbelt by a million acres, bringing the total from 1.8 million acres to nearly 3 million acres. The co-chairs of Municipal Leaders for the Greenbelt were at Queen’s Park on Monday to push for provincial changes as legislation is up for review. Guelph Mayor Karen Farbridge, one of the co-chairs of the Municipal Leaders for the Greenbelt, says growing the Greenbelt would set future generations up for success. “The success of the Greenbelt has been to protect important natural areas, particularly those natural areas that provide our water supply, but also to protect farmland in our area from development,” says Mayor Farbridge. She adds that Guelph has already taken a number of steps toward expanding the Greenbelt: “Our city council has agreed to move city-owned natural heritage lands into the Greenbelt. There is a process to do that, although one of our issues is that process can be quite difficult to get through.” The group would also like to create Ontario’s first Food Belt, with 200,000 acres for farming. The Greenbelt was first established in 2005. http://www.570news.com/2014/06/24/possible-changes-coming-to-ontarios-Gr…